Carry Me Away
by tortallanrider
Summary: An AG oneshot. I normally do AJ, so this is different. I hope I lived up to my fluff habits! Rated T for fluff. R&R.


**Carry Me Away**

Sir Alanna the Lioness of Trebond and Olau, lady knight of Tortall, had never known what it felt like to have your heart broken, until Prince Jonathan of Conté had broken hers only a week before. She had vowed to herself years before that she would never fall in love, but she had fallen in love with the handsome prince. He was irresistible—with his coal-black hair and sapphire eyes. He'd been one of the first to know that she was a girl when she had been hiding it to earn her shield. He'd picked her as his squire. And, on her seventeenth birthday, he'd become her first lover. Alanna had fallen hard for Jonathan, as much as she hated to admit it. She loved him with all her heart, but he'd asked to marry her. She'd said no, and they'd fought. He called her unfeminine. It stung and the wounds Jonathan caused cut deep. Alanna had said things to him that she didn't mean. Their fight had not only ended their romance, but also their friendship. Alanna wasn't sure that she would recover—but she put on a brave face and went on with her life.

There she was, standing at the gates of House Azik on Dog Lane in Port Caynn, half a day's ride from Jonathan. She resisted the temptation to wheel her mare Moonlight the other way and gallop straight to the Tortallan capital of Corus—and into Jonathan's arms. But she knew that she couldn't do that. So she would fall into the arms of her best friend, George Cooper, who loved her. She needed to be loved.

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Alanna had been with George at House Azik for nearly a week. Every moment she spent with him went toward healing her wounds. George looked at her with such love in his hazel eyes that it made her shudder with fear—she didn't know if she could handle it. George hadn't asked her what had passed in the desert—something she was grateful for. She couldn't tell him just yet.

"Lass?" George asked one day when they were alone in his study. "Will ye tell me what happened between ye and Jon?" Alanna swallowed hard. She'd known he would ask sometime.

"We fought," she replied softly. George moved closer and put his arm around her. "He asked to marry me. I said I needed time to think. He went ahead and ordered my things packed so we could go home. I hadn't given him an answer yet. He called me… names. I accused him of things. He left in a rage, and I was just as mad."

"Ye hurt his pride, did ye?" he asked. Alanna nodded. "Ye nobles have too much pride, ye know."

"I'm noble, George," she reminded him. "And I don't have any pride left."

"Yes, ye do. Ye're a proud lass. An honorable lass," he replied. Alanna shook her head.

"I've nothing left," she said. "There's nothing left in me. He took it all."

"Did he?" George pulled her into his arms.

"George, what are you doing?" she asked.

"Somethin' I should've done a long time ago," he replied.

With that, he kissed her. Alanna almost fell back, but George held her tightly in strong arms. She kissed him back strongly, losing herself in the movement of his mouth on hers. George pulled her tighter still, almost crushing her against him. Alanna put her arms around his neck, enjoying every moment of it. Her whole body tingled with a strange sensation that she knew from Jonathan's kisses.

George pulled back. "I take there's somethin' left that he didn't take?" Alanna nodded.

"Don't stop, George," she murmured. "Kiss me again."

"No," he told her. "If I kiss ye again, we'll lose ourselves and get carried away…" his voice drifted off, but Alanna knew what he was implying.

"I want to get carried away," she told him. "I want to leave this place. I want _you_ to take me away, George. Carry me away. Far away."

George chuckled softly. "Are ye sure?" he asked. "Are ye sure that ye can?"

"Yes," she replied. "You know this should have happened a long time ago. You know it as well as I do." She pushed aside the thought that Jonathan had told her almost the same thing on her seventeenth birthday. _Leave Jon in Corus, _she thought. _This is George. George would never call you unfeminine. George loves you._

"Follow me, then, lass." George rose and offered her his hand. She took it and got to her feet, heart thumping.

George took her to his room. They went in and he silently bolted the door. Alanna waited for him. When George turned around, his eyes were alight with more love than she had ever seen in her life. He lifted her up as if she were a feather and pressed her against the door. It was easier to kiss him when their mouths were level. She wrapped her legs around his waist, and George put on hand on the small of her back, the other under her hair. Their mouths moved in time, perfectly together.

Alanna drew back an inch. "Bed," she managed. George carried her there, carefully placing her on his bed as if he could break her if he dropped her. His mouth never left hers as he lay down beside her and they pulled the covers over them. They stripped each other's clothes off, continuing their kiss.

"D'ye have th' charm my mother gave ye?" George asked her when he withdrew for a moment. Alanna held up the charm.

"I never take it off," she replied. "No mistakes."

"No mistakes," George agreed. He stroked her hair. "I know ye don't want t' hear it, but I love ye, Lioness."

"No Lioness," she told him. "Alanna. If I'm to be here you're not using my warname." George chuckled.

"But ye're my Lioness," he said. "I'm callin' ye Lioness cause that's what ye are."

"Fine," she conceded and kissed him. "But only because I love you." George's eyes widened.

"Did ye…"

"Yes, George. I did."

"Ye love me?" She nodded. "Oh, lass." He kissed her passionately, and Alanna felt that he'd thrown his whole heart into it. She returned it, ignoring the voice in the back of her head calling her a liar.

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Later on, they lay beside each other. George was stroking Alanna's cheek with the back of his hand, and she was smiling at him.

"I thought ye didn't want love," he murmured.

"A person can change her mind," she replied.

"D'ye really love me?" he asked.

"Why, you don't believe me?" she wanted to know.

"Of course I do!" he exclaimed. "Its just hard t' believe that my lass is sayin' it." Alanna laughed. She kissed him gently.

"Never doubt it for a second, George," she told him. "I love you. You've taken back what Jonathan took away, and you carried me away from everything in this world."

_**Author's Note- **wow. My first AG one-shot. I feel so special. What did you think? REVIEW, please. And don't put it on alert, cause it's a one-shot._


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